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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Even his strongest political detractors
admire him. He was born in Mylapore, his
father hailed from Madurai;
he is married to a Parsi, his brother-in-law is Jewish, his son-in-law Muslim,
his sister-in-law Christian and his profile received yet another boost when the
Supreme Court ruled that the permission to prosecute a public servant cannot be
delayed beyond four months. He heads the
Janata Party – an amalgam born opposing emergency and which swept to power to
form the first non-Congress government in the history of the Republic of India
in 1977. There may not be a direct
answer on whether the constituents of that Govt remain as they are as 3 decades
is too long for political realignments.

The Spectruam which has felled many
political pedestals would not have been alive but for his rhetoric and singular
pursuance in courts. Years back in Nov
2008, Subramanian Swamy wrote the first of five letters to PM Manmohan Singh
seeking permission to prosecute A. Raja in regards to the 2G spectrum scam and
now it is a year since Raja is languishing in prison. Singh took no action,
leading Swamy to file a case on his own in the Supreme Court of India regarding
the matter, which then asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to produce a
detailed report on the matter.

Swami’s allegations are much deeper that
what has come to light thus far. He claims
strong evidence to corrupt acts of many politicians and claims that more heads
would roll. He filed before the Apex Court seeking
directions on whether an ordinary citizen has the right to file complaint for
obtaining sanction of prosecution and the rules on grant of sanction within a
specified period. In its latest order,
arming Swamy, the Supreme Court stated that anyone could set the criminal law
in motion upon filing of a complaint except where a law creating the said
offence contained provisions to the contrary.
On the other critical question of timelimit for granting sanction, the Court has observed some strong opinion –
at best this could be construed as a reprieve through the back door and most
Media interprets it as indictment for PMO. Now, Swamy is in news again as a
landmark decision on his filing documents to prosecute the MOH P Chidambaram is
expected to be pronounced. From the
Janata Govt era in 1977, they have travelled to farthest polls in terms of
ideology. The verdict today is expected
to be on key aspects of 2G scam including Chidambaram’s role in fixing spectrum
price when he was FM in 2008. if Court
rules affirmative, then it could spell doom to Chidambaram at least to his
Ministerial post immediately. Swamy’s
case is that Chidambaram is just as culpable as Raja, who completes one year in
Tihar jail today.

Chidambaram clad in white has weathered
many a storms including his mired election.
He is consummate survivor and has made political friends with foes
even. In not so immediate past, he once
pleaded loss of memory on whether Gupta was his client in 1990s. PMO for long stonewalled Swamy’s letter seeking sanction from the PM
for the prosecution and what happens in Apex Court today
could change the way of Indian politics in a big way !!